Mozambique: Five rugby players, two officials among eight dead in road accident

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Five rugby players, two officials among eight dead in road accident

10:13 CAT | 14 Oct 2024

Screen grab: STV / Soico

Five of the eight victims of a road accident on Friday night in Maputo district, in southern Mozambique, were players and two were officials from a rugby club in the province of Inhambane, according to information from the national federation for the sport.

“It is with deep regret and dismay that the Mozambican Rugby Federation comes to the public to mourn the tragic road accident that claimed the lives of five valued athletes and two Inhambane Rugby officials,” reads a statement from the the Mozambican Federation of Rugby.

Eight people died and 12 suffered serious and minor injuries on Friday night in the Manhiça district of Maputo province, following a road accident, according to official sources.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors, who face a road to recovery and overcoming,” the statement quoted the federation’s president, Tiago Mendonça, as saying. “We are by their side, offering all the support they need to find comfort and strength at this difficult time. The legacy of the departed will remain in our hearts and we will honour their memories through the love and passion they always dedicated to rugby.”

On Saturday, Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, expressed his sorrow at the deaths of eight people and the injury of 12 in a road accident in Maputo province, lamenting the loss of life in “circumstances that could have been avoided” on the road.

“In this moment of pain and dismay, I want, on behalf of the government, the Mozambican people and myself, to express my total solidarity with the bereaved families and all the victims of this accident,” said Nyusi, in a message posted on his Facebook page. “I want to reaffirm the call to observe road safety rules, as we cannot continue to lose lives in circumstances that can be avoided.”

The director of the Manhiça District Health Services, Flézer Tomás, told journalists that the accident happened at around 11 p.m. local time, in the Tavira area, in Maluana, “involving a semi-automobile passenger transport from Maxixe, which was on its way to the city of Maputo, and another vehicle, and the collision resulted in eight deaths.”

A spokesman for the Maputo Provincial Traffic Police, José Novela, blamed excessive speed on the part of one of the vehicles as the cause of the accident.

“The circumstance is excessive speed on the part of one of the vehicles, which did not leave the necessary distance, and in an attempt to overtake, crashed into the other,” said Novela.

Road accident rates in Mozambique are described as dramatic by various organisations.

The country’s authorities have pointed to speeding and drink-driving as the main causes of accidents.

Mozambique has recorded more than 4,800 deaths in road accidents in the last five years, according to figures released on 22 May by the government, which is calling for society’s involvement to curb the scourge.